Last Friday, a group from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, led by Vice Director of the National Preventive Medicine Department Dang Quang Tan, inspected the preventive measures to control dengue fever in Da Nang.

A jar of standing water can become a breeding ground for the mosquitoes

According to the Director of the Da Nang Preventive Medicine Centre, Dr Ton That Thanh, since the start of the year, a total of over 3,870 cases of the disease have been recorded in the city, up 87.3% against the same period last year.  A total of 267 hot spots for outbreaks of the mosquito-borne viral disease have been identified in over 50 wards and communes across the city.  The highest numbers of such cases have been recorded in the districts of Thanh Khe, Lien Chieu and Hai Chau.

Mr Phan Trong Tinh, Vice Chairman of the Hoa Cuong Bac Ward People’s Committee, said that there are now a total of over 270 vacant land lots in his ward.  Despite many strong measures having been taken by local agencies, the problem of environmental pollution and the overgrowth of weeds at these vacant land lots have yet to be resolved effectively.  This has caused the rapid proliferation of mosquitos.

Dr Nguyen Tien Hong, Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department, remarked “In an effort to deal with this matter of deep concern, my Department has inspected the killing of mosquito larvae across the city, especially in hot spots for outbreaks of the disease.  Medical employees and equipment, and anti-mosquito chemicals, have been prepared well to prevent any new outbreaks of the infectious disease from occurring in the city.”

Vice Director Tan highly praised the municipal Health Department for their great efforts in dealing with the complicated development of dengue fever.  He also asked the local relevant agencies to continue widely publicising about how to avoid the disease amongst locals: sleeping under mosquito nets, and killing mosquito and mosquito larvae.